


I can't look away and I can't watch

by AslansCompass



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, ft: bus, this is gonna hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-06
Packaged: 2018-02-24 09:16:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2576174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AslansCompass/pseuds/AslansCompass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aftermath of Coulson using the machine to check his memories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I can't look away and I can't watch

The machine is switched off,  leaving the room silent, without even the hum of electricity.  

May doesn’t look away from Coulson; her gaze flickers from his shaking hands to his terrified, wide-open eyes. When he tries to speak, he has to clear his throat twice before there was enough saliva to coat the screamed-raw mouth.  

Her face is like flint, but her right hand keeps reaching for the holster on her belt.

Bobbi has stepped in front of Fitz and Simmons, instinctively protective. Simmons is whispering an explanation to Bobbi, but her other hand has slipped onto Fitz’s shoulder. For a moment, they are Fitzsimmons again, without the awkward space that’s been there since Ward’s betrayal. 

Lance mumbled something about relieving Mack on surveillance, but his facial expression left no doubt that he was going for a drink. Under the circumstances,  he’d probably be joined pretty soon by the rest of the team.

Skye has taken it worse than the others.  She objected to use of the machine from the start. She’d found him in it before, screaming as Raina watched.

When the procedure started, she clenched her fists so hard that  her fingernails drew blood.  Ten minutes in, she was dry heaving.  Her faint words were covered by Coulson’s screams, but what could be heard was nearly as painful.

"not me…why not me…"  That serum’s in her veins too, why isn’t she scrawling alien symbols on the wall,  why isn’t she lying on that bed?

Coulson is the first one to move. In slow, jerking steps, he stumbles off the bed and walks toward Skye. “Hey, hey,” he murmurs, holding her close. “It’s gonna be okay. I’m still here.” 


End file.
